Sub-conscious mind controlled amusement device

ABSTRACT

An amusement device that includes an indicia-bearing curved strip that is supported in a horizontal plane at an elevation sufficient for a user to insert an upright elongate object such as a wand, pencil, or the like, within the confines of the strip. The user then attempts to cause the elongate object so held to move towards and away from the various indicia to answer a question posed by the user, either mentally or audibly. The movement of the elongate object and the hand holding the latter, is believed to be in response to mental concentration of the user to the extent that the subconscious mind takes over as may occur in a form of self-hypnosis.

Unite States Patent [191 Benwell Mar. 19, 1974 SUB-CONSCIOUS MINDCONTROLLED AMUSEMENT DEVICE [76] Inventor: Dale D. Benwell, 455 E.Plymouth,

Long Beach, Calif. 90805 [22] Filed: Dec. 14, 1972 [21] Appl. No.:314,988

52 US. Cl. .j. 273/161 [51] Int. Cl. A63f 9/18 [58] Field of Search273/1 R, 161

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1.420.956 6/1922 Bisey273/161 Primary ExaminerAnton O. Oechsle 5 7 ABSTRACT An amusementdevice that includes an indicia-bearing curved strip that is supportedin a horizontal plane at an elevation sufficient for a user to insert anupright elongate object such as a wand, pencil, or the like, within theconfines of the strip. The user then attempts to cause the elongateobject so held to move towards and away from the various indicia toanswer a question posed by the user. either mentally or audibly. Themovement of the elongate object and the hand holding the latter, isbelieved to be in response to 'mental concentration of the user to theextent that the subconscious mind takes over as may occur in a form ofself-hypnosis.

8 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures SUB-CONSCIOUS MIND CONTROLLED AMUSEMENTDEVICE- BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention Amusementdevice.

2. Description of the Prior Art The popularity of alleged answeringdevices for questions such as the well-known Ouija Board, has prevailedfor many years. The disadvantage of such a board and the movableaccessory used therewith is that they are somewhat bulky and cumbersome,and occupy excessive space both when stored and prior to being sold.

A major object of the present invention is to provide a compact,lightweight amusement device of novel structure, which may be easilyassembled by a user without the use of tools, and is capable of beingoperated in much the same manner as a Ouija Board, and when not in use,may be arranged into a compact configuration for storage.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A curved, rigid sheet that defines a confinedspace into which a number of spaced protuberances extend to define aseries of side-by-side pockets. At least one side of the sheet hasspaced indicia defined thereon, such as numbers, letters or words, eachof which is aligned with one of the pockets.

The user is provided with an elongate member such as a wand, or thelike, that can be extended into the confined space. Support meansoperatively associated therewith maintains the sheet at a sufficientelevation relative to the user to permit the elongate member to beconveniently extended into the confined space.

After the invention has been assembled, the user extends the elongatemember into the confined space and then poses a question which the userdesires to be answered. By concentration on the part of the user, thesubconscious mind of the user may direct the hand and the elongatemember held therein to move into and out of the pockets to indicate theanswer to the posed question. It will be apparent that all persons arenot so endowed as to be capable of having the hand holding the elongatemember to move, with the moving member sequentially entering the pocketsin succession to provide an answer. In general, those persons who haveoperated an Ouija Board successfully will find like success when usingthe present invention.

A major object in devising the present invention is to supply a compact,lightweight amusement device that may be easily and quickly assembledwithout the use of tools, and one that will provide amusement to personsin endeavoring to answer questions posed, either men tally or audibly tothe device.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a firstform of the device, together with an elongate member being held by auser in an operating position;

FIG. 2 is a top plan view of a first surface of a portion of the deviceillustrating the spaced indicia thereon;

FIG. 3 is a top plan view of a second side of that portion of the deviceillustrated in FIG. 2 that has second indicia thereon that are differentfrom those on the first side thereof;

FIG. 4 is an alternate form of a portion of the device that has spacedindicia defined thereon; and

FIG. 5 is a second form of the amusement device.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS In FIG. 1 a first form 10 ofthe invention is illustrated in which it will be seen to include a rigidsheet of material, preferably in the form of a ring 12, although thesheet may be in any other configuration so long as it defines a confinedspace 14 within the interior thereof. The ring 12 preferably has threeor more strings 16 attached to the outer peripheral portion thereof inequally spaced relationship. The strings 16, as will be seen in FIG. 1,extend upwardly from the ring 12 and meet at an apex 18.

The apex 18 is secured to the free end of a first horizontally extendingleg 20, and this let on the opposite end develops into a second verticalleg 22. The second leg is preferably secured to a base 24 of sufficientweight as to hold the first and second legs, and the stringsupportedring in the position illustrated in FIG. 1, when the base rests on aflat horizontal surface (not shown), such as a table, or the like.

The ring 12, as may be seen in FIG. 2, has a first surface 26 on which anumber of circumferentially spaced first indicia 28 are defined, withthis indicia being the letters of the alphabet. In FIG. 3, a secondsurface 30 of the ring 12 is shown, which has a number ofcircumferentially spaced second indicia 32 defined thereon, whichindicia are illustrated as being the numbers of l to 9, a plus and minussign, yes" and no, and the months of the year.

I It will be apparent that the first and second indicia may be varied,and not necessarily include the letters, numbers, months, words, and thelike as illustrated, but other indicia which may be of greater interestto the user.

The ring 12 is illustrated in FIG I, with the first surface beingupwardly disposed, and the first indicia 28 being visible to the user.An elongate member 34 is provided, such as a wand, or the like, and thismember is adapted to be held in the hand 36 of a user. When so held, theelongate member 34 may be extended upwardly into the confined space 14,as illustrated in FIG. 1. The ring 12 is preferably formed from amaterial, which while rigid, may be penetrated by a sharp pin. The innerperipheral edge 37 of the ring 12, as may be seen in FIG. 2, has anumber of radially extending pins 38 mounted thereon, and these pinscooperatively define a number of circumferentially extending pockets 40.The pockets 40 are of such width that the elongate member 34 may easilyenter the same.

The device when assembled as shown in FIG. 1, is easily used. The usergrasps the elongate member 34 in his hand 36 and positions the elongatemember within the confined space 14. The user (not shown) then poses aquestion desired to be answered, the hand 36 in response to thisquestion will move, with the elongate member 34 then sequentially movingin and out of the pockets 40 to indicate the answer to the question bythe indicia 28 associated therewith. Should it be desired to use thesecond surface 30 of the ring 12 to permit the second indicia 32 to beused in answering a question, the strings 16 are simply untied at theapex 18, and the strings then reversed to support the ring with thesecond surface 30 upwardly disposed.

A second alternate form of the ring is shown in FIG. 4 and identified bythe numeral 12'. The ring defines a confined space 14, and the ring hasa first surface 26' on which the first insignia 28' are defined. Thepockets 40' in the alternate form of the ring 12' are defined by asuccession of circumferentially spaced protuberances 44 forming a partof the sheet defining the ring 12. The pockets 40', as may best be seenin FIG. 4, are radially aligned with the first indicia 28' in the samemanner as the pockets 38 are aligned with the indicia 40 in the form ofring first described. The alternate form of ring 12 has three or morestrings 16 connected thereto in the same manner as previously described,and serves the same purpose as the strings 16 do in the first form ofthe device illustrated in FIG. 1.

The second form 42 of the amusement device is shown in FIG. 5, and inthis form the ring 12 does not require the strings 16, but instead thering is supported by at least three downwardly projecting legs 46 thatrest on a flat horizontal surface such as defined by a table 48, or thelike. The second form 42 of the device is used with an elongate member34 in the same manner as with the first form.

The use and operation of the various forms of the amusement device havebeen previously described in detail, and need not be repeated.

1 claim:

1. An amusement device for testing the power of the sub-conscious mindto control the movement of the hand of a user after a user has posed aquestion and concentrates on having an answer provided thereto, whichdevice includes:

a. an elongate lightweight rigid pointer capable of being held in aprojecting position by the hand of a user;

b. a rigid sheet that defines a confined space in the form of a throughopening of substantially greater area than the transverse cross sectionof said pointer and through which confined space said pointer extendswhen held by said user;

0. a plurality of first insignia that are defined in side by-siderelationship on a first surface of said sheet that is visible to saiduser;

d. first means that project into said confined space from the edge ofsaid sheet that defines said confined space to provide a plurality ofside-by-side pockets into any one of which said pointer may move, witheach of said pockets being aligned with one of said insignia, and saidpointer when moved into one of said pockets visually indicating throughsaid insignia associated therewith a portion of or an entire answer tosaid question; and

second means for holding said sheet at a sufficiently elevated positionrelative to said user that said pointer can be extended upwardly intosaid confined space.

2. A device as defined in claim 1 which further includes:

f. a plurality of second insignia defined on a second surface of saidsheet, which second insignia are different from said first insignia, andsaid first and second surfaces oppositely disposed from one another, andsaid second insignia aligned with said pockets.

3. A device as defined in claim 2 wherein said second means is capableof selectively holding said sheet in either first or second positionswhereby either said first or second insignia are visible to the user.

4. A device as defined in claim 1 wherein said sheet is in the form of aring that has an inner peripheral edge that defines said confined spaceand from which said first means extend.

5. A device as defined in claim 4 wherein said second means includes:

f. a plurality of strings that project upwardly from circumferentiallyspaced portions of said ring to meet at an apex thereabove;

g. a horizontal bar having first and second ends, said first end havingsaid apex secured thereto; and

h. an upright that supports said bar at a desired elevation above afixed surface.

6. A device as defined in claim 4 wherein said second means is aplurality of circumferentially spaced legs that extend downwardly fromsaid sheet to support said sheet at a desired elevation above a fixedhorizontal surface.

7. A device as defined in claim 1 wherein said first means are aplurality of circumferentially spaced pins that define said pocketstherebetween.

8. A device as defined in claim 1 wherein said first means are aplurality of circumferentially spaced portions of said sheet that extendinwardly into said confined space to define said pockets therebetween.

1. An amusement device for testing the power of the subconscious mind tocontrol the movement of the hand of a user after a user has posed aquestion and concentrates on having an answer provided thereto, whichdevice includes: a. an elongate lightweight rigid pointer capable ofbeing held in a projecting position by the hand of a user; b. a rigidsheet that defines a confined space in the form of a through opening ofsubstantially greater area than the transverse cross section of saidpointer and through which confined space said pointer extends when heldby said user; c. a plurality of first insignia that are defined inside-byside relationship on a first surface of said sheet that isvisible to said user; d. first means that project into said confinedspace from the edge of said sheet that defines said confined space toprovide a plurality of side-by-side pockets into any one of which saidpointer may move, with each of said pockets being aligned with one ofsaid insignia, and said pointer when moved into one of said pocketsvisually indicating through said insignia associated therewith a portionof or an entire answer to said question; and e. second means for holdingsaid sheet at a sufficiently elevated position relative to said userthat said pointer can be extended upwardly into said confined space. 2.A device as defined in claim 1 which further includes: f. a plurality ofsecond insignia defined on a second surface of said sheet, which secondinsignia are different from said first insignia, and said first andsecond surfaces oppositely disposed from one another, and said secondinsignia aligned with said pockets.
 3. A device as defined in claim 2wherein said second means is capable of selectively holding said sheetin either first or second positions whereby either said first or secondinsignia are visible to the user.
 4. A device as defined in claim 1wherein said sheet is in the form of a ring that has an inner peripheraledge that defines said confined space and from which said first meansextend.
 5. A device as defined in claim 4 wherein said second meansincludes: f. a plurality of strings that project upwardly fromcircumferentially spaced portions of said ring to meet at an apexthereabove; g. a horizontal bar having first and second ends, said firstend having said apex secured thereto; and h. an upright that supportssaid bar at a desired elevation above a fixed surface.
 6. A device asdefined in claim 4 wherein said second means is a plurality ofcircumferentially spaced legs that extend downwardly from said sheet tosupport said sheet at a desired elevation above a fixed horizontalsurface.
 7. A device as defined in claim 1 wherein said first means area plurality of circumferentially spaced pins that define said pocketstherebetween.
 8. A device as defined in claim 1 wherein said first meansare a plurality of circumferentially spaced portions of said sheet thatextend inwardly into said confined space to define said pocketstherebetween.